“If it had not been the LORD who was on our side…”
…we would have been toast!
That is what David recognises in Psalm 124 as he recounts that they would have been swallowed up if the LORD had not been on their side.
We don’t know which particular rescue was referring to, but our reading from 1 Samuel describes one such time when Israel would have been toast had the LORD not been on their side.
David reminds us at the beginning and end of the Psalm that the LORD, the covenant keeping God who made heaven and earth is on His people’s side. Even in the face of severe opposition, times when you feel you’re going to be swallowed up, when you can’t cope with anymore, when it feels like the flood will sweep you away, when you feel you are about to be eaten up, here is a wonderful encouragement, if you belong to Jesus, the LORD is on your side.
Of course it doesn’t mean you won’t face these things, but that God will get you through. In Romans 8 Paul describes a similar set of adversity and yet reminds us that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. How can we know that God is for us? He gave his own Son. Think of what this Psalm would have meant for Jesus. As he faced being swallowed up, as the flood swept over him, He faced more than any of us ever will, and yet He also experienced the snare of death being broken as He rose on the third day.
As a result, the new Israel (the church, made up of Jew and Gentile as our reading from Acts 10 shows us), can sing this Psalm knowing that our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
What an encouragement, God will get us through whatever light and momentary affliction we are facing and bring us to eternal glory because He is the God who made heaven and earth!
Light and Momentary Troubles 
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